Jungle Fever
by Marie Allen
Summary: Helga, freshly graduated from university, decides to run away from the structured life that she's created for herself and start anew. Arnold is tired of not knowing what happened to his parents and becomes pro-active about it. Two separate paths merge onto one road of lies, deception, vengeance, prophecy, and love.
1. Prologue

AN: So a huge thank you to DarkUnderworld for helping me Beta. She's amazing!

This was originally written for Shortaki Week 2016 but I didn't finish it in time. So I'll be posting once a week, or thereabout, until I'm caught up and the story is completed...probably still just 8 chapters. This is the shortest chapter.

I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

The rain poured down upon her head, sliding down her cheeks and mixing with the tears Helga hadn't even realized were steaming from her eyes. She waivered for a moment, blinded by the pain that throbbed behind her eyes and she choked back the sob of grief that bubbled up from within her, nearly causing her to stumble and lose her footing.

But she couldn't let her self into the dangerous temptation to curl into a ball of wretchedness and weep until she had no more tears left, they were close, _so close_ behind her and she had zero time to think about anything except that she had to get the hell out of there.

Lightning lit up the jungle, thunder booming only seconds later. She kept running, blinded by the foliage and rain and tears. She had to get out of this. She had to find shelter. They were right behind her. She could f _eel_ it.

Lighting struck again a short distance away. Her heartbeat quickened at the sound as her feet almost tripped over an exposed root.

Keep going. She had to keep going. _Find them_.

Then, like a bright beacon in the darkness, she saw a light green light. She stopped, hesitating only for a moment, wondering if what she was seeing was nothing more than a figment of her overwrought imagination. But no. It seemed too real. She ran faster towards it, hoping that whoever the light belonged to was friendly. She couldn't think much more beyond that as the rain intensified, soaking her through her ratty clothes and to the bone.

She burst through the thick foliage and fought back the terror of losing sight of the light.

 _Where did it go? It should be here!_

A quick turn to her right and she saw it. There! Up in the temple they had passed a couple of days ago. She pushed her faltering leg muscles even faster because even though she could no longer hear the pirates screaming after her, the urgency to put as much distance between her and them was overwhelming.

Reaching the temple, she scrambled up the stone steps, which were slick with water that had puddled in the ancient groves, and she almost slipped twice. Hell, she may have if the sharp ache in her knee was any indication. But she only felt it when she finally reached the top and collapsed, panting heavily on the stones somewhere inside. She could feel her heart beating frantically inside her chest as she desperately tried to regain her lost breath.

It hurt to breathe and she didn't want to move but she had to. She couldn't rest yet; she couldn't allow herself to break and fall apart yet.

She didn't know how long she laid there, tears continuing to slip down her cold, damp cheeks, but her breathing finally leveled out and she was able to stand.

Her skin still crawled with adrenalin and her heart still beat with unbridled terror, but she tried to calm herself enough and push away her dark, swirling, agonizing emotions because she needed to think straight in order to survive.

As she wavered on unsteady legs, Helga began to prioritize her movements and actions. She shucked her top layer, knowing that she had to get out of the wet clothes. It may be warm now, but night was coming and who knew how long the storm would last. And even though the pirates were still out there, hunting her, there was no way anyone would survive for long out in that weather without catching something. Or falling and breaking their necks.

Lightning lit up the interior of the chamber she had taken cover in and she started in fright, her frozen hands shaking while she squeezed out as much water from her hair as possible. She hated thunder and the adrenalin that had been pumping through her veins for the last two hours was starting to wane.

Peering further into the darkened chamber, she could see water puddling on the floor and focused on removing the water from her top while attempting to walk at the same time, heavily relying on the wall for support.

When they had passed by this place yesterday with her wrists tied together, it didn't appear to be very big. Inside, however, with the little light that was left, it looked a lot bigger than she initially thought. But now was not the time to investigate the darkened hole that spread out before her. She was unable to see, hesitant to explore without something to light her way and if she was honest, she was barely holding herself upright, resisting the strong urge to slide to the floor and allow her agonized emotions consume her.

Wait.

Hadn't she seen a light up here earlier? That's how she was even able to find this place, right?

Her battered heart clenched in terror as she froze, listening for any voices or anything to indicate that she was not alone.

But there was nothing, only the sound of the water dripping off of her and the storm raging outside.

Cautiously, she turned around towards the entrance, straining her eyes to make out any sign that there was anything or anyone out there.

Still, nothing.

She rubbed her eyes and face as she forced her tense, aching muscles to relax, dropping her top and satchel. It had to be paranoia, making her see things that weren't there.

Obviously her primal need for survival had recognized the area and led her right to this temple. Frankly, she was too exhausted, both emotionally, and physically to think about it.

Her eyes burned from the rain and tears, her heart felt like weighted lead, her clothes were heavy, and she had to get out of her boots. Bending over, she untied them, kicking them off along with her socks.

Her tired, agonized brain fought against a total and complete shutdown as she shoved away the black tendrils of guilt and sorrow and focused her waning energy on a plan of action. She would wait out the storm here, have one of her snack bars to keep up her energy, and then she would leave as soon as she could. She had to get back to town by tomorrow. Even though it was a two-day hike back, she needed to make it in time; she had to warn them.

She stood up, her over-tired body too restless and anxious to just sit. Darkness suddenly enveloped her and the storm intensified. Her arms wrapped around her damp shoulders, fighting off her violent shivers as she let her eyes adjust to the dim light. To help, she closed them.

And that's when she saw him, in her mind's eye, sitting in the middle of the makeshift tent, arms tied behind his back around a post. The look of panic on his dirt-smudge face would be forever etched in her memory, and coward that she was she had just left him there after her escape.

Her heart clenched as a sob wracked her body, but only once before she swallowed the rest. She could not break down or give into her heart-wrenching misery. She would not. It would only waste energy that she didn't have and she couldn't dwell on the what-ifs. The only thing she could do was focus on the present. Unfortunately there were too many factors and unknowns, but she could control her actions right now and all she could do was rest and get her ass moving at first light.

Her heart throbbed, but she squared her shoulders as she moved away from the wall just enough to roll them back, making some sort of an attempt to relieve the tension. She needed to prepare herself for a hard night on the floor, and the monumental task of falling asleep, even though every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Arnold's agonized face.

Her breath froze in her lungs when, out of nowhere, she something hard was jabbed into the center of her back. A sound that was too much like the cocking gun echoed around the room.

"No te muevas." His voice was deep and sounded dry, but there was no mistaking the thickly laced threat. Her heart leapt into her throat, not daring to move, just as she was ordered, as panic seized her. Dammit! Why did she have to take off her boots? Just when she thought that she had been free of these-

"Por favor," her voice cracked and she licked her surprisingly dry lips. The barrel of the gun pressed harder into her back. She could get out of this, exhausted or not. She cleared her throat and swallowed thickly, trying to keep her voice from trembling. Hopefully he was alone and she could overtake him, using the darkness as her ally. "Miras la tempestad. Yo solo estoy escondi-" She stopped when a hand roughly grabbed her upper arm and spun her around.

Her eyes widened, heart pumping harder. She was going to die. She knew it. She waited too long to try and fight him and now (all) hope was lost. Helga closed her eyes, trying to get her bearings (straight). No, she would not die. Focus.

She had to make it. She _would_ make it! She had to get to town and let everyone know where they had been taken, where the pirates were. She had to. Who else would be the one to tell Arnold's grandparents their grandson was dead?


	2. Chapter 1

_One Month Earlier_

* * *

His only good eye narrowed at the door on the screen in front of him; watching. Waiting. Computers quietly hummed throughout the room, fighting against the silence, but barely winning. The immaculate machines were wiped down every Tuesday and Friday at seven forty-five every week to remove all traces of dust and to verify that there were no loose cords or falling screws. The work he had been doing for the last seventeen years relied on this technology and he would be damned if he would lose it because of an oversight.

Just like Francisco. That idiot.

The door suddenly burst open, revealing the one he had been waiting for. He tensed, watching as the man embraced his loved ones before running into the awaiting cab with just a small piece of luggage. He had seen this scene before, but there had been a piece of the puzzle missing all those times before. But now it was finally in place…after all this time.

He grinned. Finally.

The phone was lifted and he dialed a number that had been memorized years ago, but had only been used twice before. He waited patiently. One ring. Two. The line opened but there was no voice on the other end. His waiting of seventeen years was nothing compared to the others. They had waited for so much longer.

He licked his lips and grinned. But now, there was no more waiting. "It's begun."

* * *

Helga sighed as she walked into the airport, her tiny carry-on trailing behind her. There wasn't much in it, just some summer clothes, a swimsuit, a sweatshirt for that unlikely cold evening, two pairs of sandals, and lots of cash. Anything else that she may need could be bought when she landed at her destination. Her iPod was safely tucked in her pocket and the sunglasses she had picked up on her way over held back her loose hair on top of her head.

This was it. She was really doing it. Hawai'i!

The cab pulled away from the curb, but she didn't notice it. The only thing in Helga's sight was the front counter of Hawai'ian Air. She was going to check in and then, after a few hours of flying, she would find a hotel and run on the beach. Piña coladas, bahama mamas, mojitos…they all had her name written on them. She had only been drunk once in her life and she had quickly learned her limitation, unlike Miriam, and, unlike her mother, she drank to appreciate the taste of alcohol, not drown her sorrow in it.

Instead, her outlet had been school. Who knew? Phoebe had helped drastically in that department, especially when she found out that Helga had gotten the highest score in their grade, three years in a row on the standardized tests. She would never admit it, but Helga knew that Phoebe had been a bit upset that she had 'only' come in second.

It had taken a lot of convincing and bribery on her best friend's part, but she had turned over a new leaf. At least on how she viewed her education. _"Just think, Helga_ ," Phoebe had said and Helga had thought she was finally giving up annoying her with doing better in school, _"if you do better for yourself, then you can get a full scholarship to any college you want. Then you won't have your dad dictating where you can and cannot go with_ his _money. And maybe you'll be able to graduate high school early and leave even faster._ "

That had done it. It had been so simple! Why hadn't she realized that earlier? Good ol' Pheebs, always having her back. So she had thrown herself into school and clubs and volunteering and shit, _anything_ to make herself look good on college applications. And wouldn't you know it, she had gotten accepted into not one, but two colleges with a full scholarship. Three others had been partial and she would have been able to get loans on her own, but she'd rather take the full scholarship. Unfortunately, they weren't in ideal locations. One was at Colville University, a private and really awesome school, but also only fifteen minutes outside of Hillwood. The other was in Texas and she had no interest in being in dry weather with even the slightest chance of tornadoes. So, Colville it had been.

It hadn't been that bad. Randomly she would see students from her high school but she'd never approach them. She knew them, kinda, but had never been friends with them. Even though she had excelled academically, she was still an outcast from the high school cliques. Not that she minded that at all and, in fact, preferred it.

She mostly kept to herself, focusing on studying. Keeping to the same mentality during middle and high school – the faster she finished through school, the faster she'd be able to get out of there – she didn't have the time or the interest to hang out with friends. She just wanted to get that college degree. Once she had that, she could do anything.

Or so she had thought. Her initial degree was in business and she could use that anywhere, but halfway through her second year she had realized she was able to have a double major. Instead of going home during breaks, she had taken extra classes in the summer and winter breaks, giving her a smooth ride to a quick graduation. Five years later, she had degrees in Business and Linguistics and a minor in pre-Columbian cultures. Technically it was Latin Studies, but it was a minor so who really paid attention?

Internships had been handed to her and declined. Professors begged her to join their PhD programs but she turned them down. She didn't want to do anything in or around Hillwood. She needed to get out of there. She had been too close to that damn town for way too long and it was slowly driving her insane.

When she wasn't studying or in class, she was doing odd jobs. She worked in bookstores, cafes, diners…even did yard work and once taught a beginning class in boxing. That hadn't lasted because the fuckers didn't listen to her and kept trying to hit on her instead. What moron did that to their freaking boxing teacher? So she scraped and saved everything that she could, knowing that once she was done with school, she was getting the hell out of Dodge.

The best thing of all, though, was how oblivious Bob had been through all of her education. Colville was a good-enough university in his eyes – although he had bitched and moaned when she had graduated a year later than initially planned because of her double-major – and wouldn't listen to her when she tried to tell him that she had gotten a full scholarship. Instead, he had handed her an account number her freshman year and said that money was only supposed to be used for tuition and not for parties, boys, bail, or drugs. At first Helga had ignored it, refusing to accept anything from the asshole. As the years dragged on and she realized she didn't want to immediately work after graduation, because of the little money she had been making, she had started to eyeball it as the larger picture it was.

Bob had assumed she used it for college and it was just sitting there, so why not use it? She knew that Bob never looked at the account because, if he had, he would have seen it untouched. It was a good thing she had never intended to use it for college either because it was less than her annual tuition and boarding.

So, she made a transfer and let the money sit in a high-earning interest savings account and a quick-earned Certificate of Deposit, never taking anything out. She had an allowance for meals through her scholarship and used that. Between her odd-job salary and the original college money, she would be pretty set up to lay low for a while.

So here she was now, freshly graduated and about to experience summer vacation for the first time since high school. She was going to go to Hawai'i, find some sort of job, rent a house or something, and start a new life far away from her family and Hillwood. It was going to be paradise in the making.

With a bounce in her step, she started for the counter. It had been a literal spur-of-the-moment decision to head to the islands, as in actually decided last night when she was watching "Aloha from Hawai'i" with Elvis and she hadn't even purchased her ticket yet. It would probably cost double or triple the normal price, but she didn't care. She wouldn't stay here another day or hour if she could avoid it. She had initially thought she would rent a car and drive the country, but then she had seen an ad full of black beaches and snorkeling. It had called to her, reaching out and demanding that she answer the siren calls of the youngest state. And now she was almost on her way.

But as she walked through the sliding glass doors from outside, she realized that good fortune was not quite smiling down on her just yet. The line was astronomical. Families of all shapes and sizes weaved in and out of the black rope. Easily a hundred people were in between her and freedom. With a groan, she flopped on an empty bench knowing that there was no way she was going to let her good mood trampled by stressed-out assholes.

So she could wait another hour. Not having a ticket yet, she had no interest in standing next to smelly tourists and crying kids anyway. Maybe if she waited, she could get a late flight and avoid all of the diaper changes and missed naps.

Out came her iPod and she began scanning through her music, trying to find something to keep her mood high.

 _Stupid people trying to leave the same time she was._ What were they thinking? Didn't they have something better to do than leave mid-day on a Thursday? Like work? Or school? Didn't they know that she was so close to a new life in the utopian world of palm trees and beaches?

She really should have known that the tropical islands weren't in her cards.

For the last ten years of her life, things had worked out how she wanted. Fate was bound to interfere at some point. Because just when she thought she would be free, _he_ showed up.

"Helga?"

Helga jumped in her seat, her heart leaping into her throat and looked up, shocked that someone had called her. And who else could it be but Arnold Shortman, the boy of her childhood dreams; the one who always seemed to block her from doing something drastic. She would have laughed, or at least groaned if she hadn't been so shocked.

"Uh…Arnold! Fancy seeing you here, Football Head," she lightly laughed and started to stand, but then Arnold sat down next to her uninvited, dropping his backpack to his feet. She eyed him and scooted over to make a bit more room for him, not really sure how to take this new situation. "Sure…sit down."

What the hell? The last time she had talked to Arnold had been graduation five years ago and maybe only a small handful of times she had seen him since then around town. He had gone to Hillwood University and had never once bumped into him during the rare social events she attended with Phoebe while she was in town during breaks.

At first she didn't realize how tightly her stomach was clenching or how thick the lump in her throat was, but when she did, a frisson of _something_ crawled across her skin, leaving goosebumps from the top of her head down to the bottom of her feet. Who knew that feet could even get those?

Arnold didn't say anything so she took off her headphones, wondering what the hell was going on and if this was some sort of bizarre setup. Her eyes lifted from the boy-now-man to survey her surrounding to see if she could spot his grandparents or Gerald or anyone familiar, although she didn't know why. Who knew if they were still even friends? But there was no one, not even any suspicious cameras or boomsticks.

Scratch the thought of being on Hidden Camera.

Slowly, she returned her attention to her uninvited companion. He looked tense and stressed and something else she couldn't name, but the way he was looking down at his hands as if they didn't belong there caused her heart to pound uncomfortably in her chest.

His silence was starting to freak her out.

Although she had given up on him years ago, he still seemed to have some sort of effect on her. And why not? He was her first love. Weren't first loves always supposed to have some sort of power over you? She had thought about him every now and then, wondering what he was doing with his life and if his grandparents were still kickin' it, although she had little doubt that they probably were. They were fighters and strong-willed and she was willing to bet they'd outlive them all.

So where the hell were they? It was completely bizarre to see him there next to her and so out-of-the-blue and he was just sitting there, not doing or saying anything. What the _hell was going on_?

She couldn't remember a more awkward reunion. If that was even what this was. And, fuck, no one was even supposed to see her today. She didn't need anyone to blab before they could find out she was leaving.

"I'm going to San Lorenzo," he blurted out. She stared at him, both confused and shocked to hear him mention her favorite professor's favorite country. Many people didn't even know it _was_ a country let alone sought it out as a vacation spot.

"Ok…" What was she supposed to say to that? There were a few, stretched-out seconds of more awkward silence, so she did the first thing she could think of and jerked her thumb to his backpack. "Packing light, I see."

He looked at her for the first time since he sat down and her heart skipped a beat. If she had thought he was good looking in high school, which he had been, he was so much hotter now. Gone was any trace of baby fat and hello to chiseled cheekbones. She had an instant feeling of déjà vu or at the very least familiarity, but she hadn't the foggiest of the why or the how.

But she did recognize that lost expression on his face. It was the same look that greeted her every time she looked in the mirror, this morning having been the only exception.

"You're not going to try to talk me out of it?"

She was surprised at that. "Um…why would I?"

"Because it's stupid and pointless. They're dead, right? I mean, that's why they haven't come back. Because they're dead."

Helga was silent for a moment, trying to think of something to say as realization dawned on her. She had never been close enough to him to know about his parents, but she had been able to put pieces of it together to get a sketchy version of what had happened. What was she supposed to say to that? _Well, I don't really know who you are anymore and haven't seen you in five years, but yes, let me talk you out of doing something I know nothing about like I'm supposed run your life or something._

Instead she chose a softer approach. Dr. Bliss would have been proud and, hey, she was still in a pretty good mood. "Maybe. Maybe not. Obviously the embassy doesn't know because they would have given you some sort of notice of _something_." He continued to stare at her as if waiting for something else. She forced a grin. "Maybe they came across some priceless treasure and they're being held captive, the bad guys trying to get information out of them so they can steal it." It was meant as a joke and her grin dropped as she mentally berated herself for that. _Tackless, Helga. Weren't we supposed to be working on that?_ But he offered a small smile.

"Right."

"Seriously, though, why would you even ask me that? If you want to know what happened to them, then go for it. I'd do it."

"You would?" Why'd he look so shocked?

"Sure. Why not? Even if you don't find anything, at least you'll know that you tried and maybe be able to put it to rest."

"This isn't my first time…" It was a trailed off, mumbled comment and Helga wasn't really sure if it was meant for her to hear or not, or if she even heard correctly, so she didn't comment.

They were silent again and she resumed watching the line that seemed as long as ever. She had hoped the awkwardness would go away, but it was only growing. Here they were, sitting on a bench at the airport, talking about his parents as if it was the most normal thing in the world, as if no time at all had passed…and that they had been friends.

"What about you?" Arnold asked, looking at her.

"What about me?"

"Where are you going?"

She hesitated for a moment, not sure if she should answer him. She wasn't kidding when she didn't want anyone knowing where she was going and even if there hadn't been a severe degree of separation from Arnold and herself, it would still mean that at least one person would know and, if for some reason someone put up a stink, he'd blow her cover.

Sure, she'd tell Phoebe eventually, but the girl wouldn't know she was missing for at least a week. By then, Helga would be somewhat settled. Or settling. Licking her lips, she was resolved to staying with her plan. "I'm taking a solo trip to Hawai'i." _What?_ Did she really just say that? Dammit!

"Oh." There was that uncomfortable silence again. How many times after graduating had she dreamt of seeing him again? Too many to count before she was able to bury all of those bitter memories away, and never had they been anything like this. This was actually painful and that long wait in the line seemed to look better with every harrowing second. "Why did _you_ pack so light?"

She frowned at her bag next to her knee. "For the same reason you did." His stare tore through her and she decidedly ignored it.

"Did you tell anyone you're leaving?"

That earned an eyebrow raised in his direction. "No, actually, and it's going to stay that way, so don't go blabbing to anyone. Not that they'll care." Arnold was frowning at her and she gave him another look. "You better not start with any of that responsibilities shit, Arnold. You're running away, too."

He didn't say anything and continued to stare at her. She looked away, feeling uncomfortable with the way he was doing that, and stretched out her legs in front of her, trying to relieve the tension in her back. This was _so terribly awkward_.

"It's good to see you, Helga. How's Colville?" She was surprised he remembered. It had been absently commented on that's where she had been accepted one day in class senior year when he asked about it and for a fleeting moment she had hoped he would be going there, too. No such luck. She remembered feeling disappointed, but not heartbroken. He had broken her heart years ago without even realizing it and she had moved on as best as she could. In fact, it had taken being completely removed from his life for it to really do her any good.

"It's fine. I graduated this year."

"Congrats." He didn't seem too enthusiastic, though. She shifted again, wondering who the hell was really sitting next to her. She had changed a lot in college, but it had been ongoing since middle school. This was not the same Arnold she had graduated with five years ago. "What's your degree?"

"Degrees, actually. Business and Linguistics."

He looked at her without holding back his surprise. "Double in two different fields? And you did that in five years? Wow, that's amazing, Helga."

She tried not to be offended and pretended she hadn't seen it from the corner of her eye. "Yeah, well, I'm a pretty amazing chick."

He was silent for only a moment. "So Hawai'i, huh? Are you meeting someone there?" Helga slouched in her seat, not taking her eyes off of the line, willing it to move faster. Maybe she should just go stand there anyway.

"Nah. I've just always wanted to go. White sands, singing palm trees, awesome food; what's not to love about it? I figured I'd spend a few days sightseeing and maybe do some island hopping before figuring out what I want to do. Since I'm moving there and all."

There was only a moment of silence but it didn't seem nearly as tense as it had been a moment ago. "I guess I always thought you would go into the arts. Writing or English or something like that."

"Why would you think that?"

He smiled. "Because you were always writing."

She sat up from the bench, taken aback that he had noticed her at all, let alone what she actually did in her spare time. "That was observant of you. What makes you think it wasn't homework?"

He grinned. "In pink and purple notebooks?"

She lightly laughed but her shoulders were still tense in uncertainty. "Yeah, ok. But still, definitely observant of you. I always thought you were kind of…I don't know. Oblivious, I guess."

"Yeah, I got that a lot. I think high school helped with that. Ya know. Hormones or something."

She snickered. "I highly doubt hormones would make you more observant."

He grinned again. "Maturity then."

"Uh-huh. They say that men don't mature until they're thirty."

"They also say that maturity is more than just an age thing."

"I guess _They_ are just busy-body know-it-alls."

He laughed and she smirked. "So Linguistics. That's surprising but not really, I guess. Since you were always so good with words."

She stayed silent and ignored that her heart started to beat a bit faster. She didn't bother asking how he would know that because, really, she didn't want to know. Instead, she changed the subject. "It wasn't intentional, it just kind of happened. And I thought, why not? Anyway, I minored in Pre-Columbian culture so I've just got all sorts of random things going on." She frowned when she realized she was doing that nervous tick again of rambling.

"That's…different. I didn't realize that was actually a thing." She missed his questioning and calculating look.

Helga just shrugged.

"Does that mean you speak Spanish?"

She nodded as she resumed her watch on the never-ending line. "Fluent, yeah. Even though it's undergrad studies, and I minored, I was pretty close with a professor. I helped him out a lot and eventually started to help him translate papers for his students."

"That's cool. Probably won't do you much good in Hawai'i though." She frowned at his comment. "Are you going to work in the tourist industry?"

Her frown deepened and if she had feathers she knew that they'd be ruffled. "Why the hell would I want to work with a bunch of whiny people on vacation?"

"Sorry. I just kind of assumed that since you have a business degree. And the state really just has that and fruit export…"

After he trailed off, there was that awful silence again. The conversation seemed to have gotten a bit lighter but this was just too painful for her now. Enough of that.

"Well, it was good seeing you again, Arnold, but I should get in line over there." Helga stood up. "It doesn't seem to be getting any shorter. I hope you find something out about your parents."

He nodded and stood up, taking the hint at her obvious dismissal. "Of course. It was good to see you again, Helga." He shouldered his backpack with a smile and Helga couldn't help the slight flutter of her heart. "Good luck on the islands. I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Yeah, you too, Football Head."

And with another smile, he turned and left, leaving her standing there watching him and holding onto the handle of her small carry-on. What the hell was all of that? Seriously, just what the hell was he getting at? _Find what you're looking for?_ _Really?_

With a huff, she got into line, ignoring the still-screaming kids in line. The only thing she was going to look for was a hotel room and eventually an apartment. And then SCUBA and surfing lessons. Maybe she'd end up being a photographer and writer for _National Geographic_ as a result of it.

Or, maybe, she'd find out that she'd absolutely hate it there because it was a freaking _island_. There'd be tourists, just like this screaming brat two lines in front of her, and she'd have to deal with all of the entitled attitudes of everyone showing up at whatever job she'll find because what else does Hawai'i have other than tourism? Just like what Arnold said.

Dammit! She had been perfectly fine until he showed up with his perfect hair and perfect face. And he just had to go and burst her bubble with his stupid logic as he always did when they were growing up when she was about to make a bad decision. _Why_ couldn't he just keep his mouth shut and let her do her own thing? So what if he potentially saved her from making a life-shattering mistake.

No, she would go with her plan and do this because it was what _she_ wanted. Arnold could go off and do his thing and try not to fail again at finding his parents, if he really had tried before, and she would be a successful business woman in the prettiest state in the country. She was meant to turn on the TV late last night and watch Elvis serenade his way through the film. She was supposed to make the decision of leaving Washington after talking to the landlady (who really was pretty awesome and very much like a crazy aunt-like figure) and telling her she could do what she wanted with all of her stuff, and leaving her notice. She was supposed to be here, right now, in line to buy her ticket.

Helga was suddenly jerked out of her thoughts when a hand gripped her arm. She pulled it back unconsciously, about to send her elbow up and into the face of the person who caught her off guard, but froze when she saw that Arnold was back. She didn't fight him as he pulled her out of line.

"Do you have your passport?" he asked in a nervous voice that was laced with something like excitement, but with a hint of desperation.

"What?" she frowned at him, still trying to get her thoughts back in order.

"Do you have it? Or are you just using your driver's license as ID?"

She shifted her weight to her other foot, dislodging his hand and took a hold of her carry-on's handle. Of course she had brought it. She didn't want there to be any problems since she looked so young and was leaving Washington for good. She would need federal ID and she didn't have immediate access to her Social Security card. "Yeah. Why? Don't tell me that there's some tracking device in them now." She forced out a laugh but there was no humor in it.

"Come with me."

She stopped laughing and scowled at him. "What?"

"I think you're supposed to come with me," he insisted.

"What are you talking about?"

"I think this was supposed to happen," he continued excitedly, if the slightly pitched tone was any indication. _This_ was more in the line of the Arnold she knew: innocently excited over the stupidest crap and naïvely insane. "I've had this planned for two months and bought a ticket to leave today on a whim. I told my grandparents about it and Grandpa tried to talk me out of it at first. And when I told Gerald he thought I was crazy. And here you are, in the same airport without a real plan." She gave him a look to let him know that she was insulted. She most definitely had a plan! Nothing written down with no idea what hotel she was going to stay at or what she'll be doing after was _still_ a plan. "What are the odds of that happening? Of us meeting right here, right now?"

She stared at him as if he had grown another head and fought the urge to correct him. She was starting a new life in another state. People did that all the time. "You've got to be joking."

"I don't think I've ever been more serious, Helga. Come with me. Maybe they'll let you exchange your ticket. I'll reimburse you for-"

"Don't be stupid, you're not going to do that. Besides, I haven't bought my ticket yet."

He stared blankly at her. "You haven't?"

"No, I haven't. This was a legit, spur-of-the-moment thing." Then he was grinning at her and she folded her arms over her chest.

"See!" he said matter-of-factly, as if this just proved his ludicrous point. Which, she had to admit, it kind of did. She turned and looked at the still-growing line for a moment before back at him, sighing.

"You're crazy, Arnold. I can't go to Central America with you."

"What's in Hawai'i that's not in San Lorenzo?"

"Civilization? Hotels? Potential jobs?" She focused her attention back onto him, scowling.

"This was meant to be, Helga," he repeated. "We haven't seen each other in years and here we are. I know it sounds crazy and maybe I am reading too much into this-"

"You are," she interrupted, but he continued as if not hearing her. Or, as was more likely, just ignored her.

"But there's nothing waiting for you there in Hawai'i. Do you even know what you want to do once you're there?" Her silence said it all. He grinned again and grabbed her hand, forcing her to uncross her arms. "You speak the language, you probably know a lot about the culture," she silently cursed her loud mouth about shooting off her education and pulled her hand back, resting it on the handle of her luggage. "This will help you figure things out, I know it. You've helped me tons of times before. Please help me on more time. Help me find my parents. Come with me."

She continued to stare at the man pleading before her. This was the most ridiculous thing anyone had ever said to her and she could fill books with all of the shit she's heard, but as she looked at him towering over her, with that boyish hopefulness that painfully reminded her of more innocent days, she knew she couldn't say no.

Just maybe she was supposed to be here at the airport and was meant to run into Arnold. Maybe she wasn't meant to go to Hawai'i but to Central America. It had been a bucket list item of hers for years now…seriously, what were the odds?

Her sigh of defeat seemed to echo around the busy terminal. "You're going to regret this, you know."

His impossibly large grin grew even wider and he hugged her tightly. And as she stood there frozen with one hand on her luggage, an immediate feeling of safety washed over her as he squeezed her. And even though, deep, deep down the little girl that Helga had been swooned and fainted, all she could do was wonder what she had just agreed to.


	3. Chapter 2

Almost twenty-three hours later, they were landing in San Lorenzo. This was their third plane and was by far the smallest, oldest thing she had even been in. How it had even lifted into the air, she would never know. It had been terrifying and Helga had forced herself to sleep with the intention that if she died, she wouldn't even know it. But now she jolted awake and looked outside the tiny window, trying to figure out what was happening. The plane vibrated and groaned and _that was a breaking sound, oh god they were crashing!_ The piece of shit was falling apart!

"It's ok, Helga," Arnold's voice was low but it seemed so loud, echoing in her ears. Her only response was to stare at him in terror but when her eyes locked onto his green ones, a sense of calm washed over her. Slowly, she nodded and before she knew it, the plane was down and taxiing to its destination.

The last day's events flooded back to her. The plane ticket, trying not to die of boredom as they waited for the flight that night, the fight with the airport personnel to keep her carry-on with her on this last flight and not let it be stowed in the belly of the beast _because all of her worldly possessions and money were in there_ , and eventually forced herself to fall asleep. She thought that she had been dreaming about this, but it looked like it was real.

Very, very real.

She was in San Lorenzo with Arnold and they were going to look for his parents. It could be easy but she knew it was going to be dangerous. She almost _died_ just coming here!

And to think, she could be in Hawai'i right now, tanning in the sun.

With a mental sigh, she followed Arnold off the plane, her luggage rolling behind her, when she ran smack-dab right into a wall of humidity. Jungle noises flooded her senses and she wondered, not for the first time, what the fuck made her do this. But there was no denying that this was definitely going to be a much bigger adventure than Hawai'i could ever be.

San Lorenzo's airport consisted of one building and a tower; if you could even really call it a building. It was more like two shacks with a roof in between, and even though it was obvious there was air-conditioning inside, they were ushered to the side of the building with their ten other flight companions to go through immigration. Really, they didn't even have the humanity to do this inside?

Helga scowled at the windows and the sweat-free haven while she was practically gagging on the humidity. They had only been out for maybe fifteen minutes and she already needed to change her clothes. Of course, wearing jeans was not helping the situation at all.

There were no cabs waiting outside but the workers were nice enough to call for one. Maybe it would take five minutes - or two hours - so they might as well get comfortable. Everything here was go-with-the-flow and Helga was instantly reminded of the Caribbean. She felt the need to go-go-go, get it done _right now_ , but she forced herself to relax and not say anything negative. She was planning on moving to Hawai'i for exactly this laid-back frame of mind. She just had to keep reminding herself that there were no deadlines here. This wasn't exactly a vacation, but she needed to relax. Chill.

"Helga!"

"What!" she snapped, scowling over at her former classmate. He had a look on his face that made her sigh in resignation and she attempted to run her hand through her sweaty hair. Ew. "Sorry, it's the heat… What'd you say?"

"I asked if you wanted to go to the bathroom and change. I'll wait here and keep watch."

Helga looked over at him, silent for a moment before nodding. He looked just as miserable as she felt and he no doubt wanted to change as well. He was also wearing jeans and a thick, long-sleeved shirt and she hoped he had brought something thinner. "Thanks, I'll hurry." She grabbed her carry-on and went towards the one-room bathroom that she had been directed to.

When she got there, she closed the door behind her and frowned when she saw no lock. Making do, she pushed her luggage against the door, doubting that anyone would be walking in, but it was there just in case.

The bathroom was disgusting. And hot. There were no windows and she doubted that it had ever been cleaned – even brand new it had to have been revolting. Helga gagged at the floor and did the best she could with taking off her pants without having to step on the dead bugs, mud, and most likely fecal matter in her bare feet and stepped on her sandals instead.

As she changed into a pair of shorts, she began to think logically. They needed to go to a bank because they had zero currency. Would the cabbie even take American dollars? Without the risk of sounding arrogant, she didn't think it would be a problem, though, as the USD was pretty strong…and probably preferred as most South American countries.

And, as miserable as she would probably be, she had to get some pants and boots. If, for some reason, they had to go traipsing through the jungle – which she was willing to bet her left leg on because it was _Arnold_ – sandals and shorts would be suicide. The bugs and leaves would kill her without hesitation. Damn bugs.

Not bothering to fold up her pants and sweaty shirt properly, she stuffed them in her luggage as she pulled out the thinnest tank top she had. Which were almost all of her tops, really.

If there was one thing Helga loved about herself, it was her arms. They were defined and no one could say they weren't muscular, but not bulging like someone on steroids. She really didn't understand why women didn't want to have noticeable muscles and why this was considered too "manly." She thought it was sexy and showed that that woman was not someone you wanted to mess around with. It was apparent that she worked out and if that intimidated someone, then Helga was better off for it; just one less person bothering her.

After pulling down her shirt, Helga couldn't get out of the bathroom fast enough and didn't bother closing the door behind her, instead letting is slam behind her with a shudder.

Even though she knew Arnold would want to change too, a part of her wished that the taxi would be waiting for them when she walked up.

No such luck.

She sighed.

"Your turn. Be careful in there, it's something else." Her face must have told him something because she swore she could see some sort of shudder pass over his frame as he walked towards the death closet with his backpack.

There were no benches out front and although she would have loved to sit inside, they'd been warned that the cab may leave if he didn't see anyone out front. Why they couldn't bother to put one out by the curb was beyond her. Or, if this was too difficult, the least they could do was put out a couple of chairs.

And where the hell were the other people? How did they get transportation before them? Could they have possibly called ahead to their hotels or loved ones or whatever and let them know they needed a lift but couldn't _possibly_ bother with two more people?

She shook her head. Just roll with it…

Since she had booked it out of the bathroom, Helga took the time now to take down her hair and brush it. There was just something that felt so satisfying taking her hair out of a ponytail and brushing it when she was sweaty. Normally it was a post-workout pleasure, but it still felt good to brush it now. In no time, her hair was put up in a loose bun to keep it off of her neck (it was long enough that it reached the bottom of her shoulder blades) and she was lounging on the dirt curb.

Arnold walked out a couple of minutes later and joined her without any comments about the restroom. When he walked towards her, his backpack dangling from his hand at his side, she had never been so thankful for sunglasses before in her life.

His long sleeves had been replaced by a white crew tee and it was just loose enough that no one would question it didn't fit, but tight enough that she could see that he definitely worked out.

His arms strained against the short sleeves and she absently wondered how she had not felt them when he had hugged her earlier that day (or, yesterday, actually) at the Hillwood Airport. They were mini trunks!

Ok, so she exaggerated a bit, as he was no boxer or wrestler like she was accustomed to seeing at her gym, but they were bulked enough to be found on a cheap cover of a romance novel, ready to beat up the villain of the week.

Well, maybe not _cheap_ , but absolutely cover material. Definitely action star quality. His shoulders were broad and only a quick glimpse towards his chest confirmed that there was no lack of brawns there.

Helga was facing forward towards the road that would bring the car, but the corners of her eyes were all on him. As such, she only had a moment to check out his legs to confirm that she didn't imagine his upper body.

Yes, he was most definitely cut. _Just what have you been up to in college, Football Head?_

He sat down next to her and it was all Helga could do not to move and act unaffected. So they sat quietly with little words exchanged and she hoped her heart, which had sped up significantly, wasn't too loud. Who knew that scrawny little Arnold would grow up to be so _hot_?

The bugs and birds sang close by and Helga focused on them, wondering yet again if this was really happening. It had to be, though. There's no way her subconscious would have created such a disgusting bathroom and such an eye-candy Arnold.

"Thanks again for coming, Helga."

She was pulled from her thoughts and shrugged, thankful she wasn't losing herself to her fantasies.

"So, what's the first plan of action?" Helga hadn't really looked at him during their time traveling and her eyes continued to stay glued to the road in front of her as if that would make the car arrive sooner. And they had hardly exchanged any words on the plane rides, just asking the most basic of questions and giving the simplest of answers. Yes, she was hungry, no he didn't need to stretch out.

"Check into the hotel and probably get you some new clothes. I'm assuming you only have beach stuff in that bag." He nodded towards her luggage in front of her and she absently toed at it with her sandal.

"Yep. I'm going to need to go to the bank too, change some currency to get pants and stuff. Had no plans of traipsing through the jungle looking for lost parents." She paused for a second before asking, "When do we start with that, by the way?"

Arnold pulled his backpack in front of him and, for the first time since they'd been together, opened it. He pulled out a book that looked suspiciously like an old diary or something and opened it to the last page. She leaned closer to him to look down at the hand-drawn map and immediately realized why he had trouble deciphering it. Most of the words were in Spanish and there wasn't exactly a trail that led to the big X. It looked more like a painting rather than a map.

He pointed to an obvious town. "That's the main city where we'll stay in tonight. It's definitely the beginning of where we need to start out but it starts getting tricky after this." He pointed to another spot, but from this angle it was hard to tell what she was looking at. "This is Livingston, about a day's walk, day and a half depending on the weather. It's a smaller town but we can get the majority of our supplies there. It'll be cheaper because they don't really get any tourists from the resort."

Two things threw Helga off: one, he sounded so sure about this Livingston place. And two, there was a _resort_?

Arnold continued, oblivious to Helga's internal confusion, and pointed to another spot which she could only assume was a town. "This is Hamilton and is about two days from Livingston and kind of where the dead-ends keep happening. There are three main roads leading out of this town, and four more minor ones. That's it. They have all led to either other towns or villages not on the map or to overgrown jungle. The more I read this journal and the more I read the map, the more I'm convinced that everything my dad put on this map is supposed to point to something. There are larger towns that were definitely around when Mom and Dad were here, and he even mentions them in his journal, but they did not make it onto the map. So even though there's no direct route, it seems obvious to me that these towns are the trail itself."

Helga was silent as she looked at the map, having no reason to not agree about the cookie crumb trail. It did seem that way, but there was still something about it that threw the whole thing off. She turned her head a couple of different ways, wondering if she could catch something different but her attention kept drifting to Rio Claro, the main river that ran dead center through the map, leading to the "Unknown" area to the far left.

She was really too tired to think too much about it, though. Exhausted from freaking out about falling-apart planes and lack of real food had been getting to her and if she had trouble thinking before, she was dead now with all of this damned humidity.

"What were they doing out there anyway?"

"My mom was a part of an archeology expedition when she and Dad met. He was bringing medical help to remote towns. They were both doctors."

"Huh. So that explains why you're such a goody-two-shoes then," she smirked, still looking down at the map.

Arnold let out a soft, breathy laugh that sent shivers down her arms. "I'm not quite the Pollyanna you've always accused me of being."

"Oh please, Football Head. Short of telling me you've killed a man, I can't believe you've done anything bad in your entire life."

The topic dropped as they spotted the cab driving down the road. "Finally!"

The ride into the city was quiet. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either. The driver spoke broken English and tried to engage them as they journeyed on, but both were giving him short answers. They were here for pleasure. No they weren't on their honeymoon. No, they hadn't planned any excursions or tours. Yes, they would be careful in certain areas of the city and wouldn't go into the jungle on their own.

At first Helga was confused as to why Arnold didn't offer the real reason but with the way Arnold was sitting, straight and tense, looking out the window, it seemed more than obvious that he didn't want to talk about it with this stranger. She could understand the reason on wanting things to stay private and so didn't offer any arguments.

* * *

The Multiplaza was huge. She was shocked as they drove up to see this immense resort. This is exactly what she had been planning to stay at in Hawai'i and not even remotely close to what she was expecting in San Lorenzo…especially after that experience with the airport. As Arnold checked in, she looked at the amenities: spa, three pools, including a pool bar, a gym, another spa, a couple of restaurants, and lots of reasons to relax. She grinned. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Arnold called her over to the counter so she could give them her passport. "They have a few suites available, but I got one with two queens to save money since we're just here for the night. I hope that's ok."

Oh, yeah. So much for relaxing. But at least they had a bank located on the ground floor so it wasn't like they were going to have to go too far out. And their supplies would be purchased at the next town so that still left time for at least a night swim.

She handed it to the woman behind the counter but responded to Arnold. "Whatever. It's not like you're going to sleep naked."

The smirk he sent her shocked her to her core and stuck with her for the rest of the day.

They separated, she going to get two more pairs of pants, a backpack to replace her roller (which she gave away to a kid on the street), some thick socks, and the best pair of hiking boots she could find, while Arnold went off doing who-knew-what. She didn't ask and he didn't offer. So, she went shopping and found lunch on her own.

It had been absolutely delicious! Empanadas and fried red snapper surrounded by plantain chips and rice. She had forgotten how good _real_ food was that didn't sit in a pantry for years, full of processed who-knows-whats.

Helga had never been one to shop, not really prescribing to the "Retail Therapy" that most of her gender ate up, so it was no surprise to her that she found herself alone in the shared room by three in the afternoon, wondering what there was to do next. She had packed up her new bag, putting the two containers of bug spray and a couple of water bottles at the top for easy access, and the remainder of her cash and passport at the bottom.

It was uncomfortable knowing that she was carrying around so much, but there was nothing she could do about it. And if she played her cards right, based off the prices she had paid today, she'd probably be able to last a whole month plus some without having to use her card. She smiled at the thought that she really was able to just slip away from her life in the states.

Although…she really should send Phoebe an email. Helga really didn't think she would notice her gone until next week, after she got back home from Japan, but once she did realize she had gone 'missing', she'd probably send out the Army, Navy, Marines and anyone else to try to find her. Although small, that girl was mighty and a force to be reckoned with once she set her mind on something. Helga had only been in the negative once with her best friend of twenty years, and it had been one time too many.

Looking at the clock, she realized only ten minutes had passed by and there was no way she was going to just sit here in the room and wait for Arnold to come back. She had passed by the gym on the way up so that sounded like a great place to start. Then maybe a swim after that, and since she knew she'd be ravenous afterwards, a huge helping of dinner. Hoping that the humidity would die down by that time, she donned on her workout top and shorts, slipping the green-gemmed necklace she never took off inside her sports bra, and proceeded to the work out area.

Just as she predicted, three hours later, she was sitting in the patio area with a frozen drink in one hand and a mound of delicious, fresh ceviche in front of her. She couldn't remember anything tasting so fresh before, and she couldn't stop eating even after she was no longer hungry. She didn't really indulge in food much, but with as much walking and hiking that she knew was going to be engaging in for at least the next week, she was planning on putting in as many empty calories as she could tonight.

And she most definitely would be indulging in some dessert. But first, she had to at least walk off some of the dinner. The resort was fairly empty, which she kind of thought as odd for the beginning of summer and for such a large resort, but something she was glad to take advantage of.

With no one in the gym, there had only been an older couple in the water when she had gone swimming, doing laps around the donut-shaped pool. It had been eerie swimming there; it felt like someone was watching her. But every time she passed the couple, they were too busy talking to themselves and she couldn't see anyone else on the patio.

And if it was the couple watching her, she no doubt knew they were wondering why she was here by herself. On the rare occasion she did do any sort of traveling, it had always been by herself. She had her fair share of ignorant comments from people of all generations about 'how dangerous it was to travel alone', and 'why didn't she have a boyfriend,' and 'she would be so much prettier if she smiled more.' It was all bullshit and, while she had gotten tired of hearing the same crap and didn't bother saying anything anymore, she more often than not put them in their place. Why were people always so bothered about everyone else that they couldn't figure out how to make their own lives happy first?

So, after leaving the pool more annoyed than she wished she was because her mood had done a whole 180 after that scrumptious dinner.

Apart from the rinse off after working out, she had not yet taken a shower. But first was a quick stop at the Business Area to send off an email to Phoebe.

Five minutes later, she was still staring at a blank email. She had no idea just what to say, but one thing was for sure, she did _not_ want her to know that she was with Arnold. She knew that Phoebe was active on Facebook and kept in touch with a lot of people that she had forgotten about, but she didn't know just what information was already circling on there about Arnold and San Lorenzo. For all she knew, there was nothing, but she definitely didn't want to allow for-

Helga stopped typing mid-way through her letter. Why did it even matter that she didn't want Phoebe to know about Arnold? She wasn't in high school anymore. There wasn't going to be any teasing or sly comments. And so what if she was with him on some crazy expedition? And, if anything did happen to her, she really should tell someone where she was. But now the question was, did Arnold want anyone to know?

With a sigh of defeat, she erased everything and jotted down a quick note about deciding to go backpacking in San Lorenzo after literally being hit with a big sign after talking to Dr. Burger (true), was currently at La Jolla Royal, but would be leaving tomorrow morning with a guide (also true) and would hopefully find some temples (definitely true), so she didn't know when she would have internet access again. Please don't tell anyone, and if she didn't surface again in a month, to only worry then. But don't send the military until after at least two months.

She had sent it with a snicker, hoping Phoebe would appreciate the joke. Probably not. Sometimes, Phoebe was just too serious.

Helga paused in the lobby when that unsettling feeling of being watched again washed down her back. The only other person was the chick behind the counter and she was on the phone, checking on someone's reservation. Peering out the windows, it was too hard to tell, but nothing immediately stood out to her.

She shook her head and pulled the towel tighter on the back of her neck. This was just stupid.

She ignored the feeling all the way to her floor and when she walked into the room, but found that it continued to follow her into the shower.

But she pushed this feeling aside, knowing that it was impossible for anyone to be following her under the warm stream of water, and furiously washed her hair. If the movies had taught her anything about hiking in the jungle, she knew that she wouldn't come across plumbing any time soon.

Not that she entirely expected to go out into no-man's land…exactly. No doubt there'd be times she would have to make do without modern conveniences, but surely they'd be staying in some sort of hotel.

Well, motel…or hut, or _something_.

The unbidden image of a man wearing bones around his neck and human scalps hanging from his hip assaulted her and she shuddered in the shower. That was obviously a Hollywood stereotype but it was still unnerving.

Shutting off the water, Helga let out a soft sigh. Even if the sensation didn't go away, at least she was sweat and grime free and so was definitely feeling somewhat better. She towel-dried her hair before wrapping it around her middle, her necklace lying on top to air dry.

Padding out into the room to change for the night, Helga absently wondered when Arnold would be back from doing whatever he was doing. A quick look at the clock confirmed that it was close to seven; they'd been apart for going on six hours now. Just what the hell was he doing, and where was he?

Her clothes were there on the bed she had claimed earlier, looking very inviting. After the long day of traveling and preparing for who-knows-what for the next countless amount of days, she longed to curl up on a – hopefully – amazing mattress.

Before she could reach her clothes though, she felt a sudden chill rush down her spine. It was so sudden and forceful, she froze, trying to figure out what it was. A tremor shot through her again and she arched with a gasp, unable to move her arms or legs. Panic swelled inside of her, her head jerking back and she couldn't breathe. Her vision narrowed and tunneled until the room was no more and she was surrounded by darkness.

Then, just as sudden as the stasis hit her, she was released with a flash of light and heat. The change was a shock to her system and she collapsed to her knees, choking and gagging as her body regained awareness. She allowed herself only a moment before scrambling to her feet and looking around, instantly recognizing that it was no longer night and she was not in the hotel room.

Anxiety fueled her as she spun around, taking in the field of red flowers with purple and yellow spots. They surrounded her as if trying to soothe her and…welcome her? Her heart beat fast and hard in her breast and no matter how hard she tried, she could not catch her breath.

 _Where the fuck am I?_

Helga stumbled backwards, still trying to process how she was in the hotel room only moments ago and was now very obviously in a field during the _day._

"Helga!"

Her name seemed to echo around her and she spun around again, not seeing anyone or anything other than the flowers and the trees in the near distance. Not so faintly, she could hear the roar of water and a light tinkling of something, but her over-processed mind couldn't identify it.

She felt a ghost of a touch on her arms and her breath hitched as she looked down, not able to see anything.

"Helga!"

The voice was louder, but still unidentifiable. It was so muted she couldn't even recognize the gender. Her legs wouldn't cooperate; instead of running, they seemed rooted, unwilling to flee. She had to get out of here!

The touch on her arm was back, but this time when she looked down and saw that the flowers had attached themselves to her, wrapping around her arm. They tugged, forcing her towards that roaring noise. She yanked and tried to scream, but remained mute. They tugged harder and then, just like that, it started to rain.

She gasped and looked up towards the sky. But instead of blue and clouds, she saw white. Her eyes stung from the water and she sputtered, trying to block the water from her face. Suddenly, her hand hit something hard and she struggled to stand (when the hell had she fallen down?), trying to grab onto anything.

Helga hacked, the cough burning deep in her chest. Just as quickly as it had started, the rain stopped and she blinked, only having a second to realize that she was in the shower stall of the hotel room and _not_ in the field of weird-colored flowers.

Strong hands gripped the top of her arms and she was standing. Her hands unconsciously found themselves on a hard chest to balance herself and suddenly she was staring into green eyes.

"Are you alright?"

Helga could only nod dumbly at Arnold's question, still blinking the dripping water away and willing her rapid heart to settle. Dimly she realized she was still in her towel, thoroughly soaked.

"What the hell was _that_?"

Helga could only open her mouth and close it, not having the words to explain it because she didn't know herself. She was in a freaking _field in the middle of the day_ just moments ago and now she was here, water dripping off of her and she had no idea what was happening.

Arnold was frowning at her, obviously searching her face for some sort of answer.

"Yeah…" her voice was scratchy and she cleared it. "I don't…I'm not sure what happened."

"You were standing in the middle of the room like you were in some trance. I called you and shook you, but there was no one home." They were silent for a moment, Arnold still looking at her, alarm still very evident on his face, before he released her arms.

"Are you ok?" he asked again and placed a dry towel over her shoulders.

She nodded, clutching the towel to her. Later she would wonder how the first one had stayed in place for so long, especially after she had been dumped in the shower.

"Has it happened before?"

She shook her head. Never. She had never experienced anything like that before. Not only had she blacked out for a few minutes, she had been carried from one room into another and probably dumped into a shower. How had she _not_ woken up?

As she dried off and finally changed into her nightclothes, Arnold having left shortly before, she decided that she was never going to eat empanadas and red snapper again. That creepy feeling had started around that time, right?

She scoffed as she toweled her hair again. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together; she probably just ate some bad fish and hallucinated. It wouldn't be the first time she had some weird, bad reaction to food before.

Arnold walked in shortly after Helga tossed both towels in the corner of the bathroom. He handed her a cup of tea, and even though she didn't normally drink the stuff, she took it appreciatively.

"We should get to bed, soon. We're going to have to get up early. I ran into a delivery guy taking a shipment of stuff to Livingston and he's going to put the word out that we're going to need a guide so hopefully there'll be someone waiting for us when we get there."

Helga rolled her eyes as she sipped the tea. Of course _they_ had to hike instead of joining said delivery dude and getting a ride there. "Last time I went to bed this early I had food poisoning." The irony was not lost on her with that one.

Arnold just gave her a strange look, yet again, as he watched her turn down her bed before starting to go through his backpack for his own pair of fresh clothes. "I never thought nine as being early, but whatever you say, Helga."

Helga froze and snapped her eyes to the clock. Sure enough, it was almost a quarter after nine. But…hadn't it been seven after she had gotten out of the shower? Surely she hadn't been standing there for over two hours! A shiver of unease rolled down her back and she shrugged it off. "Oh…guess it's just later than I thought."

She didn't fall asleep until after Arnold had showered and fallen asleep himself.

Just what the hell had she gotten herself into?

* * *

They left at dawn, neither talking about what had happened just a few hours ago in the room. Helga didn't really know what to say about it so she didn't bring it up, still not having told him what she had seen. He didn't ask about it, though, and she was grateful. She wasn't sure what she would tell him if he did.

The walk started without any conversation, just the most necessary of words exchanged. The weather was stifling and she was willing to bet that it was even more humid today than it was yesterday. The boots she bought had not been broken in and so were killing her feet; she was sweating in areas that she had no idea was able to sweat, and she had more cuts on her from the last five hours than she had in the last five years.

And then, on top of that, Helga's thoughts continued to take her to what happened in the hotel room. No matter how hard she tried to redirect them, they always strayed back to the funky colored flowers and water.

So, in an act of desperation, Helga was the one to break the silence. "You sure do know your way around for someone who hasn't been here before."

She surprised herself when that came out. Truthfully, she had no idea what she was going to say when she opened her mouth, but it definitely hadn't been that. But as soon as she said it, she realized just how true that was.

Arnold didn't stagger or seem to be affected by the accusation and instead shifted his backpack to rest higher on his shoulders. "I never said this was my first time."

Helga gaped at his back. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I've actually been here six times now."

After her initial shock, she suddenly grew angry. "What the hell, Football Head! You made it sound like this was wild goose chase, not a pointless mission!"

He looked over his shoulder at her, not slowing his pace. "Would it have changed anything?"

"Of course it would!" The humidity and pain in her feet fueled her irritation. "I would have talked you out of it. No wonder your gramps thought you were crazy."

"That was Gerald."

"Whatever!" She kicked a rock, sending it spiraling off the path. That comment from yesterday made all the more sense now. He had been to this place before and had no doubt been to those other towns, too, so he had first-hand experience. She didn't know why she was so upset about it, though. He was right. He never did actually say this was his first time here and it wouldn't have made a difference in her coming, anyway. A few minutes later she kicked another rock out of the way, this time with less enthusiasm.

* * *

They arrived into town with quite the greeting that night around nine. It helped that they had only stopped once for a hasty lunch. Arnold had been quick to point out that if they stopped too long, their muscles would lock up and they definitely wouldn't be able to cover much more ground and would have to camp out that night. It didn't sound too appealing to Helga. If she could get one more night on a mattress, she'd take it. Her feet could rest then.

Kids surrounded Arnold and two things struck her as she watched him interact with them: one, he was obviously well-liked here and she wondered just how long those "six times" had lasted. These kids had history with the football-headed dweeb and it was more than just a few hours of playing _futbol_. And two: Arnold was speaking almost accent-free Spanish. And here she thought her role was to play translator.

But, had he actually said that? In fact, it was difficult to remember exactly how that conversation had gone. He had asked for help but didn't say exactly what help was needed. Just what the hell was she doing here?

An older man greeted them in English but Helga stayed a couple steps behind, feeling more annoyed than ever with this situation. She almost missed introductions but, really, she knew she wasn't going to remember anyone's name by morning. The feeling of being duped or tricked into coming was eating at her and she was just...well, she was _hangry_. Her stomach was virtually empty and all she wanted right now was a meal and a place to take off these awful boots.

Something had to be listening to her mental anguish because they were suddenly ushered into someone's house and forced down at a table. Food was suddenly in front of her and it took all of her willpower to remember proper etiquette, as she had never had the need to really put it into practice. Even though she was pissed at Arnold, she would not embarrass him in front of people who obviously liked him.

Before she realized it, the meal was over and she was ushered into a room that obviously belonged to the couple that had just fed them. She was too tired to think of the awkwardness of sleeping in their bed and, even if she wasn't, it would have been insulting to them to refuse.

Helga eagerly kicked off her shoes and slipped on her pajamas. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

* * *

The smell of breakfast roused her reluctantly out of bed. Although she had fallen asleep alone and woken up the same, she absently wondered if Arnold had slept next to her, based on the look of the other half of the small bed. There was no sign of him sleeping anywhere else in the room and she really doubted that he had slept on the floor without some sort of blanket.

And if he had slept next to her, she had been too dead to realize it. Damn.

With a groan, she rolled out of bed and made it as best as she could before changing. Her feet complained when they were slipped into the boots but she ignored them, letting her stomach guide her to the kitchen. Arnold was sitting there with Sr. Gonzalez (she thought his name was Roberto) as a kid about one crawled around the floor at their feet. Sra. Gonzalez was bent over the stove with a baby in a sling at her back.

" _¡_ _Buenos días, senora!_ I hope that you slept well!" Oh god...she couldn't deal with peppy right now.

"Yeah, great, thanks. Mornin'," she replied in English and shuffled to a seat and slumped into it, knowing it wasn't a very polite answer but not really caring right now. Her stomach grumbled and she rubbed her face with her hand, still trying to wake up. As she did, she caught Arnold's look of disapproval and she scowled at him.

" _What_?" He gave her a pointed look, one she had grown so used to growing up, but didn't say anything and went back to his…porridge or whatever that was. But it did look delicious.

Helga mentally groaned in annoyance. Fucking Arnold and his goody-two-shoes attitude. She had been polite last night, hadn't she? Of course, last night she had been out of it but she had made it a point to not embarrass him and had succeeded. Now that she was not quite so dead on her feet, her lucidity was making for a not-so-good impression.

But just as she was about to spout pleasantries, there was a knock on the door. A moment later, Roberto ushered in a man probably in his early to mid-forties, holding his hat in front of him.

"Mister Arnold, my name is Javier. Juan Carlos has told me that you are looking for a companion in your journey during his delivery. I have worked with Juan Carlos many times bringing supplies to the villages and towns and so maybe I can be assistance to you."

Oh yeah…Arnold had mentioned something about a tour guide. Looks like he found one.

* * *

Thank you so much to DarkUnderworld for being so awesome! She's not in this fandom and still rocks with help and ideas.

And thanks to you, readers! I am so bad about updating but hopefully I can at least get this one finished. It is half way written and the rest all planned out. Just got to get it written down.


	4. Chapter 3

The morning was spent collecting the necessities required for an unknown destination. In order to really study the map Arnold was so keen on following, Helga had opted to stay behind while he and Javier went on their shopping trip.

It was obvious that Arnold was hesitant in giving the map to her so, in her _ever so_ charming way, Helga had snatched it from him and literally pushed him out onto the street towards a waiting Javier. Yes, she would be careful with it. No, she wouldn't mark on it. No, she wouldn't show it to anyone else. Seriously, who would be interested in an inaccurate, hand-drawn map from over twenty years ago? Besides, it was just a copy in plastic.

In order to stay out of their hostess' way, she found a sturdy looking chair with a convenient table nearby in the back of their home. Before she had been let outside, Sra. Gonzalez insisted she take a plate of cornbread and just who was Helga to deny homemade food, even if she had just eaten breakfast?

So, there she was, munching on delicious cornbread with Arnold's father's map displayed out before her. She couldn't help but smile as she thought back to just a couple of months ago, doing this same thing: looking at old maps.

Dr. Burger had been her favorite professor at Colville. He was older, soft spoken, and was generally compassionate to his students. Usually professors like that annoyed her, giving free rides to students who didn't take university serious enough. But there was something about Burger that drew her to him. Before she knew it, she was his aid and her entire career goal changed.

He had introduced her to ancient Central and South American cultures, including some she had never heard of before: Olmec, Teotihuacan, and his favorite, the Green Eyes.

There wasn't much information on any of the cultures, including the more famous Mayans and Aztecs, but there was virtually nothing on the Green Eyes. As such, it was really easy to remember everything about them. They disappeared from history around the time the Mayans rose into power but apparently there were still whispered rumors of their survival. Dr. Burger claimed that he had first-hand experience in seeing genuine artifacts that were as recent as the 1700s, but she didn't really have any strong thoughts on it.

 _Rumors_ , he said, _are like myths. They're all based on_ _fact_. Her rebuttal during their many debates, especially like this, always came back to the game of 'telephone'. Rumors are rarely accurate and often the root of the story itself has been corrupted.

But even if he was an obsessed old man and she a closed-minded know-it-all brat, they both respected each other and she genuinely enjoyed his company. It had been a hard goodbye, but she had promised to stay in touch from time to time. He'd shit bricks when he found out where she was right now, pissed she hadn't asked him to come along.

Helga snickered at the thought and twisted the map sideways, trying to get another view. Of course, he'd probably also die because of the heart attack he'd have after finding out she came all this way and wasn't planning on doing anything to help find the lost civilization.

With a frown, she twisted her head at the map to look at it from an alternative angle. Well…at least not right now. But what was going to stop her from staying here after Arnold left…? It did kind of make sense in a roundabout way. Maybe she could set up base here and continue on Burger's research.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts of the future. She could think about that later. Right now, she had an obligation to Arnold.

Looking at this 'map' with any sort of cartography knowledge, it was immediately obvious that this wasn't to scale. In fact, it looked more like Arnold's dad was bored one day and decided to doodle and color.

But as she continued to turn it and look at it from different angles, she was starting to get another viewpoint. She started noticing reverse words, obvious landmarks that weren't labeled, and what appeared to be alternate paths. If she held the map normally with North pointing upward, it looked like a couple of trees next to a mountain range that rested against Livingston. But held to the side, the ridges looked more like pathways to an unnamed town.

Arnold hadn't pointed out this route before and she made a mental note to see if there was some sort of path like that outside of town. Although no longer pointing true north, she could only assume that when the map was held this way, it may or may not be a "new" north.

As if on cue, a couple of kids ran by, chasing after a _futbol_. It only took a moment before she chased after them, for who else knew their town better than the kids?

A quick conversation confirmed that there were unused walking paths that led out of town, but they weren't kept up anymore and likely overtaken by the jungle again. Only the teenagers used them, they had told her with some confusion as to exactly why the older kids would wander out that way. _Just wait a few more years, kid._

They led her to them and, with map in hand, she was able to cross out all but two paths. Unfortunately, they were the two that were causing the most issues: one led north towards the Rainforest Preserve and the other west to Unknown.

She stopped at the convenience store and bought some candy for the kids and after a lot of thank yous, the kids were off again, leaving Helga twisting the map and trying to figure it out as she wandered back towards the Gonzalez'.

There was clearly more to this map than she originally thought. Either Arnold's dad was a genius or a lunatic to come up with something like this. She was willing to bet he was both if he was anything like his kid.

The more she looked at it, twisting it this way and moving it that way, she could tell that there was something there that she was missing. It was _right there_ but she just couldn't see it.

"Any luck?"

She jerked her head up, startled. Arnold stood in front of her and she realized she was back at the house.

After a moment, she nodded and held the map right side up. "Yep. Look at it from this view."

"What?" Helga handed the map to him and pointed to the mountains.

"This ridge looks like mountains when held this way. But turn it," she did and handed it back to him, using her finger to trace it up towards the unnamed town, "and it becomes a trail and the trees become a town, but there's no name. That may mean it was a settlement or something like that. Or he just didn't know the name. The only problem is, I don't know if this becomes the new north or if we're still meant to go west."

"Holy shit." She glanced up at him with raised eyebrows, instantly recalling all of the disapproving words he'd give her whenever _she_ swore, not that 'damn' was really a swear word. He let out an enthusiastic laugh and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I've had this thing for over ten years and I have _never_ seen that!" She fought back a sigh and pushed him off of her.

Twenty minutes and a coin flip later, the three headed true north, towards the Preserve with Javier and his machete ahead.

* * *

Like the day before, they ate a light lunch and continued onward. Whether she was expecting it this time or because it really wasn't as bad, the humidity didn't get to her as much as it had the day before. It probably helped that she drank her water sparingly this time, too; spread out over the day rather than taking large gulps. Arnold had suggested to do it that way earlier and she had pointedly done the opposite. Lesson learned.

There were probably a few hours left before nightfall and food was the current topic. She hadn't asked about their supplies, but it was immediately obvious by the way Javier and Arnold were talking about pig, fish, and birds. "Wait, so we have to hunt and cook it?"

Helga loved meat but the thought of actually killing, skinning, and preparing something that had been alive moments earlier made her extremely squeamish. It must have showed on her face because Javier laughed.

" _Sí_ , _senora_ , I will prepare dinner." And with that, Javier was gone, swallowed up by the jungle, leaving Arnold and Helga with the tent preparations.

Knowing that she was going to have to suck it up and get used to it, she didn't complain. She signed up for this adventure and she was going to see it to the end. Even if that meant she was making dinner on her own by the end.

She tried not to think about it.

The tents were put up relatively quickly. They were small, single-person ones and it helped to blend into the foliage. They weren't the only ones out in the jungle and it would be best to stay as unmolested as possible by both other humans and wildlife alike.

Shortly after, they had gathered the driest pieces of wood they could find and started a fire. That was a skill that Helga was great at and she had no hesitation taking charge of it.

"So back in town…it seemed like you were pretty popular." Arnold smiled at Helga's comment and nodded, obviously thinking of the people there.

"I flew out here for the first time the day after I turned 18." That took her by surprise. He had been in high school then and she vaguely remembered he was sick for about a week or something like that during their senior year. He had looked awful when he got back, but she hadn't really thought anything of it.

"I didn't find anything. I was just here a week, so I really just turned around in circles since I had no idea what I was doing. But I made a couple of connections and when I came back for the summer after graduation, I started to figure things out. I stayed at Livingston and met Roberto then. I've stayed with them every time I've come here to look."

Helga raised an eyebrow at that and continued to stroke the fire. "Every time?"

"Yeah. This is my seventh time back."

She looked at him in shock. "Seven times, are you serious? And you've found _nothing_?"

He shook his head and sat on the ground next to where they had put the dry bits of wood. "I never said I didn't find anything. Roberto would come out with me at first, but once they started having kids, it was harder to ask him to come out. If something ever did happen to us, I would hate to leave them fatherless." The weight of that comment was heavy on her shoulders. Big Bob was awful, but there were some good memories with him. And that was more than what Arnold had.

"At first I started looking for my dad's old buddy Eduardo, but was never able to track him down. I never found any solid leads on my parents, either. Just stories and a couple of newspaper articles, but most of it was when they were here before they moved back to Hillwood. They came back here when I was two.

"I kind of figured that they probably died in a plane accident, so I started looking through records of that. Nothing came up, but we did find two planes pretty deep in the jungle that had not been recorded. Although they weren't my parents, I'm glad I was able to help other families looking for their missing loved ones."

Helga tried to imagine the fear that he must have felt when he came across those planes, and the probably disappointment and hope when he discovered they didn't belong to his folks.

"This is actually the first break I've had since I realized that Livingston and the others were real towns on the map. So thank you for that." She always felt uncomfortable under any sort of real praise, especially from Arnold. A lot had changed since her school days but that was one thing she would probably never grow out of. To distract herself, she ignored him and broke the stick she had been using and dropped it on the fire, realizing too late that they could have used that for whatever meat Javier decided to bring.

"Where is that guy? I feel like my stomach is folding inside out. Sheesh, how hard is it to catch a fish anyway?"

She pointedly ignored him as he smiled at her, just as she ignored the fluttering in her chest.

* * *

They traveled for a week before turning back, agreeing this couldn't be the right way. They should have come across that town by now and hadn't stumbled upon anything remotely close to one. Just a lot of trees and a lot of wildlife.

It hadn't been that bad for Helga. On the contrary, she had expected a lot worse. But as the days started to blur together, she adjusted to the weather, continued to fight off bugs, and could now call herself an accomplished fisher. She still didn't want to try her hand at hunting, but fishing was a breeze.

Javier had been a bit quiet at first, but as they rolled to the end of their second week, just a day away from Livingston, he had fit right in with her and Arnold. He was quite the comedian and frequently tried to play jokes on them. The second night they shared, he had freaked her out about cannibals in the area. She knew it wasn't true, she had spent too many years studying this blasted country, but she couldn't sleep that night, especially when he sharpened the machete just out front of her tent. The next day she was almost dead on her feet.

They had set up camp quickly and the fish had been delicious. Normally she would have gotten sick of the same thing for all three meals but there was just something about them that she really enjoyed. The large river rodents they had caught hadn't been too bad either. Having studied the map on their way back, she had been happy to see that they would be following another river on the new trail.

The sun had just set and they knew that they should be getting to bed soon, now that their bellies were full, but Helga was too excited to sleep. Tomorrow she would be able to get a shower, sleep in a bed, and have some more of that delicious cornbread. And she would definitely have to try and email Phoebe, too.

As had become habit, Helga checked over the map while Arnold and Javier talked about the day, what they'd expect for tomorrow, and who knows what else. After the initial find, Arnold had let her hold onto it and hadn't asked to see it since. She felt flattered that he had put so much trust into her and it was really nice to see how much good he still had in him. Life hadn't corrupted him yet and she hoped it never did.

The last two weeks had been wonderful and terrifying for her. Never in a million years would she have ever considered hacking down plants with a machete in an isolated jungle, let alone doing that with Arnold. They had spent more time together now than they had since elementary school. It had been really nice getting to know Arnold the man from Arnold the boy and it didn't take long before old feelings began to resurface.

Rain was not uncommon, but one day in particular, they had found themselves taking shelter in a small cave. Javier had decided to take a nap, his snores echoing around the rocks - easily ignored - especially since this was the first time that they had been alone since they had started the trek.

And they had just talked. She had no idea how long they were there, whispering about movies and classes they had taken throughout the years and laughing at Javier's weird sleeping noises while they stayed out of the downpour in a cave.

Well, cave had been an overstatement. With Javier slumping over, she and Arnold were practically up against each other. More than once she could feel his breath against her neck and it did all sorts of things to her insides. When the rain cleared and they were able to get back to walking, she wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved.

Helga had hated camping growing up, instead preferring the comforts of civilization. But on those nights that there was enough of an opening in the trees that she could see the stars, she could easily see the appeal of living without the burden of technology. Not having a phone and instant access to the internet had been awful the first few days – now, she felt less anxious and relieved. She wanted to cut herself off from Washington and that's exactly what she did. Maybe she would stay here after their little expedition ended and get in touch with Dr. Burger after all.

"…Green Eyes?" Helga jerked her head up at the name and looked over at her team. It was Arnold who had asked, but she had been lost in thought and missed the complete question. This was the first time that they had mentioned anything about them.

Javier nodded towards him and tossed the remains of his fish into the fire. " _Sí_ . It is said in the prophecy they will not come out until the Warrior tells them it is safe."

"Which prophecy?" Arnold continued questioning and Helga was glad for it so she wouldn't have to ask. Dr. Burger had always instilled in her that knowledge of the Green Eyes was extremely valuable. The locals had their stories, but usually just dismissed them as that. He was always mumbling about making sure others didn't steal his research

And so she sat quietly, listening to whatever it was that he had to say. She was familiar with the Warrior and was actually excited to see what a local really had to say about him.

"The Warrior always comes when the People are needed. The first time was when there was a great flood and the Warrior led the People here. And so they thrived. Then there was a famine but the People were not touched by death. The king god Ahnab Kin sent the Warrior to help fight off other tribes who were jealous of the People and they were victorious. Thousands of years and always the Warrior fights for the People. And when he does, they win.

"Five-hundred years ago, the Spaniards came and the People were curious. But the Warrior tells them to hide, that these men cannot be trusted. They do not listen and so the People welcome the Spaniards with gifts. The Warrior turns his wrath onto the People, for they did not listen and many of the People have died because of the pale men, including his beloved, Aklel.

"It is said that when he came across Aklel's body, his grief was so great, volcanoes erupted and wiped out all of the Spaniards. He felt betrayed by the People. The Warrior vowed he will not bless them until he is reunited with Aklel and he continues to leave the People unprotected. And so they have remained hidden, trying to protect themselves until the Warrior returns to restore Ixche."

"What's Ixche?" She knew what it was, but in order to keep face, she had to act as ignorant as possible. The story itself was nothing that Helga didn't already know, but she did get a thrill out of hearing it out loud from someone other than her professor. It was a bit surreal to see her studies unfold before her, as if validating that it wasn't some made up thing Dr. Burger had introduced her to.

"It's not really known," Javier continued. "Even though it turns up in a lot of stories. I think maybe it is a good luck charm given by the gods to the Green Eyes."

Helga frowned at that, contemplating what Javier said versus what she had been taught by Dr. Burger. Ixche, he had always contended, was a mythical, magical object that pretty much gave them life. With it, they were able to thrive but without the Warrior's blessing, it pretty much was a death sentence to the Green Eyes. Or so he had always told it.

"I've heard a lot of stories about the Green Eyes, including about the Warrior, but never about his lost love," Arnold started. "How sad for them."

Helga stretched out her legs, leaning away from the fire. "Yeah, I get it, his girlfriend was killed, but still, it's kinda a dick move to doom an entire people. They didn't kill her, the Spanish did.

"Well, not directly, but definitely indirectly," Arnold argued. "If they revere him to be someone so important, and had listened to him as they did so many times in the past, why not this time?"

"Probably because they got tired of Daddy telling them they weren't allowed to go out at night and rebelled." He just gave her a look and she shrugged in response.

"What? It makes sense to me. Humans are stupid creatures. It's in our nature to do the opposite of what we're told to do. You can't convince me this isn't the first time the People ignored the Warrior; it just didn't get passed down the years. This was obviously the worst case because his girlfriend got caught up in the middle of it all and they couldn't ignore it from their history."

Arnold nodded in response. "Yeah, that makes sense. You're probably right, too, about this being the only known instance. It's unfortunate that such a small amount of history has been found. It's actually weird, knowing that we are so close to hidden temples and buried sites that could be _the_ find that archaeologists have been searching for, for years. There could be one minutes from us and we're walking right by it, but we just can't see it."

"It is too expensive," Javier added. "The government used to have teams come out here but they were not able to find much. The jungle is too thick and there is not enough money. There have been very few private digs but the government will only allow 'experts.' There are not many people who know about the Green Eyes, let alone being an expert."

Helga remained quiet as she listened to Javier. It further drove down the nail in her resolve that she should stay here and continue on Dr. Burger's work. She just needed to figure out what the government considered "expert." She knew a lot, but did she know enough?

Some how, she _would_ make it happen.

* * *

Livingston had Wi-Fi, but it was sketchy at the best of times and really depended on how many others were at the Internet Café. She had a boatload of emails, most of which were junk or would continue to go ignored by random people who actually had her email. She had received a response from Phoebe, including eight follow-ups, but could only skim through them. Phoebe had a tendency to fill up emails about her day, which was really the same thing she did all the time. Making sure that there was nothing too important, she shot an email back, telling her that she was alive and had not been attacked by bugs the size of trucks and had yet to find any lost temples or anything like that. She'd be gone again for a few weeks, at least, but, like before, don't send the army until she had gone MIA for two months.

She held her breath as it took an unusually long time to send, and only let it out when the sent notification lit up at the top of the screen. Just to verify, she checked the outbox and signed out. Mission accomplished.

They weren't originally going to stay for very long in town, just a quick regroup, but their hosts had convinced Arnold to stay for the night and leave at dawn the next morning. Part of her couldn't have been more thankful to them (a night in a real bed? Yes!) but the other part groaned at the thought of waking up while it was still dark out. But she'd deal with it, as she had. It really wasn't that bad anymore and she was looking forward to just being out in nature.

Normally she would have hated that, but over the last few weeks she had grown to see the romantic side of the forest. There was just something so calming about being away from civilization.

Not that the big C didn't have its perks, like beds and showers, but that aside, she could easily see the appeal of wanting to explore.

Of course, there was the downside like the bugs (damn bugs), the sores, the cuts, cutting through foliage - it probably outweighed the good most of the time - but the good was just so beautiful.

They had all briefly separated to complete their own tasks earlier in the day. Now that Helga's was done, she wanted nothing more than to just sit in a tub and sleep on a bed. But because she was somewhat reasonable, it was too expensive on her hosts to do the first and way too early for the latter. Instead, she helped _la señora_ in the kitchen.

And was promptly kicked out.

Not hurt by that in the least, she busied herself with other odds and ends. Proper laundry, mess with the family cat, check the map _again_ , and before she knew it, dinner was completed, stories had been exhausted, and they were saying their goodnights.

Arnold and Helga were back in the room they had been in before and she could sense some uneasiness from him as she was going through her pack. She turned over to him with a frown as she gathered her nightclothes to change in the bathroom. "What's up with you?"

His response was surprisingly quick. "Would you feel more comfortable if I slept outside?"

She continued to frown before realizing he was talking about the bed. She snorted and rolled her eyes as she walked out of the room to change in the bathroom. "We're adults, Arnold. We don't have cooties."

He was lying on top of the covers when she got back, flipping through his dad's journal and, pleasingly for her eyes, shirtless. If the room wasn't stifling hot, she would have ordered him under the covers, but she herself probably wouldn't even get under them. Despite the window being open and a breeze dancing in the room, it was just way too hot to wear any more layers than necessary. Arnold was fortunate he didn't have to wear a shirt.

She didn't look at his bare chest when she turned out the light, yet the image was still burned into her mind. "Lights out, Football Head. If we're getting up before the sun, I'm getting as much sleep as possible in this bed. Besides, don't you have that thing memorized yet?" When she lay down next to him, very aware of how close he was to her, she tried to think of a way to accidently brush up against him, before thinking better of it and mentally berated herself. She wasn't some hormonal kid and she really should act her age.

Maybe in the morning.

A shift in the bed told her that he was putting the journal away. Truthfully, there was still enough light outside that he could have continued reading if he really wanted to, but he had chosen to sleep, too. "You'd think, but I still find new things. Different meanings into what he wrote, new details in his sketches. And now that you've found those clues in the map, I'm wondering if there's not something similar in there, too. But so far nothing is standing out."

"Maybe you're just trying too hard. Or maybe it's just a plain ol' journal. He could have used all of his creative juices for the map."

"Heh. Maybe."

They were silent then and Helga took that as a sign for sleep. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but be incredibly aware of how close he was. Her heart kept beating and try as she might, she wanted to know if his skin was as smooth as it looked. She really should roll onto her side, put her back to him and try to fall asleep, but pride wouldn't allow it. She could fight and push this stupid infatuation aside.

Or lust. Or whatever.

"You awake?" It took her a moment to realize that it had been her that asked.

"Yeah," was his breathy reply.

She ignored the shiver that ran down her arms. "Do you think the Green Eyes will ever come out of hiding?"

She was surprised when he tensed up and she unconsciously turned her head to him, trying to make out his expression in the growing dark but his head was turned away. "No."

"That's probably a good thing. Their culture would be ruined if they did." She was silent for a moment. "But it would be cool to find them and prove that they're real. There are still cultures out there in India, Peru, and a bunch others that can still live by the old ways."

"Maybe."

"You think it would turn out badly?"

"Yeah, I do. There are a lot of bad people out there and I have no doubt that they'd be slaughtered. The rumor is that they have a lot of treasure."

Helga snickered. "Yeah, and magical glowing rocks. I doubt either are true."

She could feel him tense again. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh…um, well…" She didn't know why she was so hesitant to tell him she had studied the Green Eyes for years. Maybe it was because it went back to the airport and the whole 'meant to be' thing. Or maybe it was because Dr. Burger insisted she not tell people about how much she actually knows. So, she wavered. "I minored in Pre-Columbian culture. I've heard a thing or two about the Green Eyes."

"And they taught you their belief in 'glowing rocks'." She could feel the skepticism coming from him, and his tone had a hint of anger, but couldn't understand why it was such a big deal.

"Yeah, it was mentioned a time or two. La Corazón is some sacred stone that's supposed to bring wealth to whomever owns it and all that hullabaloo. Whatever, though, it doesn't exist. Something that glows like that would have been seen by now."

There was another stretch of silence and Helga was lost in her thoughts, trying to dig up everything she could about that stone. It wasn't much, but the evidence was definitely strong to point that it did exist and seemed to suggest there was something very _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ about it being a life source, not a stone of wealth, but even if people did claim it to be real, she contended it was an elaborated story gone rogue.

"Maybe we have, but we don't realize it."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Magic and fairy tales sounds like it's still your thing, Football Head."

"I'm just saying there's a lot of things out there that we claim to know about but really don't. I've seen some things in that forest that I can't completely dismiss."

"Like what? Animals disappearing and showing up right in front of you?"

"No, nothing that obvious," Arnold lightly chuckled. "Voices. Whispers. I thought that it was my imagination at first, maybe hallucinating, but it would come out of nowhere."

"So you have ghosts following you around," was her flat, disbelieving response.

"No, it's not like that. It's more like there's someone standing behind me having a conversation with someone but there's not anyone there."

"Like…a ghost."

"If you hear a ghost, it's a whisper or just a word. This is full on sentences."

If it had been any other time, Helga would have teased him, saying something along the lines of him belonging in a loony bin and not running around in the middle of the forest with a knife Dundee would be proud of, or at the very least tease him about his ghost comment. But she could hear the sincerity in his voice and that, coupled with the knowledge of his dedication to finding his parents, silenced it. Instead, she found herself asking "And how often does this happen?"

He was silent for a moment and she was sure it was because he was figuring out if she was mocking him or not. Psh, of course she wasn't. It'd be more obvious than that. "Not very. It actually hadn't happened since my third time here…"

The way he ended it made her feel as if he had more to say. "But…?"

"Well, until now. It's happened almost every day."

That knocked her socks off. If she had been wearing socks, that is. "You're telling me you've been hearing voices every day for weeks and you're just now bringing this up?"

"Are you saying you would have believed me if I had told you instead of calling me crazy?"

"You _are_ crazy, but I still believe you! Criminy, Football Head. You can't hold stuff like this back. I thought we had some sort of agreement. I'm here to help you find your parents. You have to tell me everything."

He shifted a little in the bed beside her. "Including that I'm hearing voices but I'm pretty sure I'm not schizophrenic."

"Arnold, you found me standing in the middle of a hotel room, unresponsive. I'm the last person to call you crazy for something like that. What are they even saying?"

She could hear him run a hand over his face. "I have no idea. I don't recognize the language."

Helga smacked her face with both of her hands, not believing what she was hearing. "Ok, so let me get this straight. You're hearing voices, in an unknown language, have been for weeks – _years_ actually! – and you just accept it like it's no big deal."

"Well, what do you suggest I should do?"

"Jesus, Arnold, I don't know! Are you sure you're drinking enough water? How do you know we're not being followed?"

"It's not just one voice. There's two: a man and a woman. And it's different each time. Sometimes they're just talking, sometimes there's giggling, sometimes it's just one or the other. I don't know why, but it's actually kind of comforting."

Helga sighed. "Only you would find friends in disembodied voices," she shook her head. "Have you tried conversing with them?"

She could feel him nod on his pillow next to her. "But they just continue on as if they can't hear me."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you stumbled into the _Twilight Zone_. Legit. Not just the show."

His soft chuckle vibrated down his arm that was now pressed up against hers, once again sending a shiver over her skin. She shifted her body so that she was lying on her side, facing him to avoid any more contact, and shoved her arm under the pillow.

"Why is it comforting?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. At first it freaked me out, especially since I was in high school then. But eventually once I realized I wasn't crazy and it was just part of all the things out there, and when I accepted it, it was kind of soothing. Kind of like going home after a long trip."

"Now that's crazy talk. How can voices make you feel like coming home?"

He turned to face her then, lying on his own side to mirror her position. It wasn't too hard to see his frown, with the diminishing light. "You know, listening to your family after being on vacation."

She thought about her family, the only people she had ever 'come home to' after being gone for any period of time. She never had a roommate, having lived in apartments during university, and so had never experienced arriving to someone who was actually waiting for her. "No. I've only just had my parents and more than half the time neither of them were there when I got home. And I never took any trips as a kid, really."

"What about when you visited during college?"

She hesitated for a moment, although she didn't know why. It wasn't like Arnold didn't know anything about her home life growing up; he knew enough to put things together. "Bob and Miriam weren't the best parents. I always dreaded coming home because I didn't know if I was going to find my mom dead or Bob having run off. They were just people who fed me and kept a roof over my head."

"Is that why you ran away?"

Helga fought her initial instinct to shove him off the bed and instead opted to scoff. "I wasn't running away. I was _trying_ to reinvent myself but some do-gooder football headed asswipe kidnapped me and forced me to this bug-infested country and made me hack my way through the jungle and make my own food."

She could hear him grin at her when he replied, but just barely saw it. "Wow, that sounds exactly what an asswipe would do."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. Dude hasn't been a part of my life in years and then shows up like we're best pals, puts on this pathetically sad act that I can see through like glass, and saves me from making a life-mistake, which he tends to always do, that good-for-nothing brown-noser."

"Always?" His soft chuckle puffed onto her cheek and she was momentarily surprised that it didn't bother her as much as it normally did. Typically she hated to be breathed on. She would immediately get really angry about it, no doubt from all of the years of Brainy _breathing_ behind her.

"Well, yeah. You always talk me out of doing something extremely stupid that would have wrecked my life. Or, if I did it anyway, I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about what you said and then feel guilty and stop it."

"I had no idea."

"Of course not. I only just now told you."

She could imagine him rolling his eyes at her. "Right. So you think Hawai'i would have been a mistake?"

"Yeah. I actually hadn't really taken into consideration how many tourists there'd be until you brought it up. Besides, I do like it here. Minus the weather, the bugs, the lack of modern conveniences in the forest…"

She grinned when he chuckled again, finding that it never got tiring being the cause of his enjoyment. "Seriously, though, it is really neat. I studied about this place for years in college and never imagined coming here. And now that it's been a few weeks, I'm actually enjoying this adventure thing. I may even stay behind and become a San Lorenzo expert. The whole know-what-fungus-to-eat type of thing. And when I get caught in a downpour, I'll know of the perfect cave to sleep in for the night from when I was there three years ago."

"And then when the bugs come out in full force during the summer, you'll be the first person in history to decimate an entire country by burning it."

"Nah, I definitely wouldn't be the first. I'm pretty sure almost every bronze-aged city was destroyed by fire."

"They were destroyed to defeat enemies. Not to get rid of a bug in the house."

"Hey, you don't know that. Do you honestly thing anyone would be like 'Oh yeah, sorry. I was trying to kill this huge ass cockroach and accidentally burned down Thebes. My bad.'"

The diminishing light outside told her it was getting late, but she wasn't ready to fall asleep yet, even though she knew they should. She turned onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. "We got off topic, though. You were telling me about your incorporeal family."

"There's not much else to say. I hear voices. But I don't see dead people."

Helga snickered.

"What about what happened to you in the hotel room?"

Although it had been weeks ago, she still remembered everything clearly. And before she realized it, she told him exactly what had happened; from walking out of the bathroom, to what she saw and heard in the dream, to waking up in the shower.

"It was weird. I've never seen anything like that place before and I never experienced anything like it, either. And, before you ask, I haven't had it happen since."

Arnold stayed silent but at some point during her explanation he, too, turned to lay on his back.

"I did have some amazing ceviche earlier, so I figured I just ate something bad from that."

"Yeah, probably."

Neither brought up that they didn't know of any drug or raw food that could do something like that. Hallucinogens didn't work that way, and it wouldn't have just worn off immediately like that, either.

Falling into a comfortable silence, both lying there, staring at the ceiling, lost in their own thoughts, Helga decided that they had had enough of a heart-to-heart tonight. The bond that had been steadily growing between them felt as if it had suddenly strengthened ten-fold over the last few minutes and she needed to take a bit of a breather.

"'Night, Football Head," she said as she closed her eyes and rolled over, placing her back towards him and placing what little distance she could between them.

"Goodnight, Helga," he replied, her name sounding soft and pleasant on his tongue.

Squeezing her eyes shut even more tightly as she fought against that stupid flutter in the region of her heart, she took a steadying breath before she forced herself to relax.

"Oh, and Football Head, next time you hear your disembodied voices, let me know, 'kay?"

Arnold took a moment to answer before finally agreeing and adding the caveat, that if she ends up in a hallucination again, to let him know.

"Will, do. Now stop talking, we need to get up early," she grumbled, fluffing her pillow a little more aggressively than was needed before settling in to sleep.

* * *

Thank you to all of you who are reading this, and a special thank you to those who leave a review. Even two-word reviews mean a lot, so thank you!

Also, huge, huge, huuuuuge shout out, once again, to darkunderworld for betaing and helping me out with the ending. I always have so much trouble with ending chapters. You're a champ!


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